[Day: Saturday, June 4th. Time: 11:30 p.m.] [Maria begins tracking Dimitri, but has no idea where to begin. How's she going to go about doing this?] [Maria is a few blocks from the parking lot, by the way. Moments after everyone else left.] [Mini Start] * Maria frowns. If I were a magically-inclined conspirator, where would I be? * Maria decides that she'd be somewhere rich if she were a magically-inclined conspirator. Lots of privacy that way, and the honcho'd have to be rich anyway. * Maria heads for the nearest really upscale part of town, working on that assumption. [It doesn't take too long to get there. Make another urban tracking roll.] 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Maria (2d6-3) and gets 6. ( Woo! ) [Maria spies a few places the might have some information: Bars, hotels... places in general where many people transverse each day.] * Maria tries one that looks about right for somone who spends their time being other people, and goes on in. [Maria goes into a bar. It's a classy bar, this being an upscale part of town, but it's still a bar. There's five people there, besides the bartender.] * Maria looks around. Anyone here who's *really* soused? [There's two guys in the corner that are sniggering amongst themselves and occasionally pointing in your direction.] * Maria frowns. They look like they spend lots of time here? [They don't look so upscale as the rest of the people. Why they're here is an unsolved mystery. Though you could probably solve it by asking.] * Maria shrugs and goes to do that. "'Evening, guys." [They leer at Maria, quite obviously drunk off their rocker. "Hey cutie! Have a seat."] * Maria has a seat at a carefully measured distance from the men, trying her best to ignore the leers. [The bartender speaks from behind you. "Ma'am, if those two give you touble, just let me know."] [They don't bother to get up, but that doesn't keep them from making occasional comments in your direction.] * Maria nods to the bartender. She then turns back to the two drunkards. "So, you boys spend much time here?" "Hic! Shourrrrrrreee... do!" Hmmm. Must se lots of interesting people around here. "Hic! Lookin' at one right now!" Aww, how sweet. ( Uhg. ) Don't suppose you've seen any other interesting people today? "Hic! Heehe-eah." ( Was that a yes? ?_? ) "Atsa... ahhh.... Huh?" The drunk peers at his partner, who responds. "Uh... hic! Nope! 'S all good." ( What do you think? :P ) Aww, y'sure? Anyone new, maybe? "Hic! Nahhh.... Hiroshi, though, he'd be tha one t' in... inquizatationed. Yah." He points to the bartender. "Ges all sortsa loonie people... n' schtuff.... yah." The other drunk points at him. "Hic. Like you!" The first one nods and points his thumb at himself. "Yah. Like me!" "Loony"? What kind of loony? ( Do both the men look Japanese? ) The drunk points at his head. "Schcreud up 'n' schtuff 'n' schtuff." ( Yes, and not even anime-Japanese. They look like Cartoony Japanese. Drawn in lower quality, yep :P ) ( c.c; ) Ah. Everyone who come in here screwed up? The second drunk points at the first. "Nah. Jus' him. 'N' the elapant. Tell the elapant t' shaddup." The... elephant. Right. Tell you boys what, I'm gonna go get me a drink. Be right back! "Yah." He looks at a nearby salt shaker. "They sh' put a warnin' on this. Na schafe." * Maria gets up and walks away from them, towards the bar. The bartender polishes a glass in the traditional bartending-manner. His eyes are closed, his hair is combed back, and he's got a narrow, short mustache. He wears a white suit. * Maria has a seat at the bar. "Dr. Pepsi, please." The bartender nods and prepares one quickfast. He hands it over. "On the house. I'm sorry for their mannerisms." * Maria smirks. "Thanks, but don't worry about it." She takes a sip. "They always like that?" "Unfortunately. But they come here about every night and buy plenty, so I'm happy." * Maria nods. "Regular customers are always nice." She has another sip. "Have a lot of regular customers here?" "Oh, sure, plenty. Even we rich classy people like our ale." Maria smirks. "The one true constant of the universe. Everyone likes a drink." Don't suppose anyone new's come along, lately? He shrugs. "New people come by all the time." "Such as you, for instance." * Maria smirks. "I'm afraid I'm just looking for someone else. A friend from out of the country. Odd fellow, actually." ( *crosses his fingers* ) "We get a lot of odd fellows here. And the occasional gaijin. Most of them are odd, but that's the nature of gaijin, no?" Maria nods. "From what I've seen? Yeah." * Maria considers the bartender. Anything stand out about him? Any gaijin in the last, oh, month or so? [Not really, aside from what I mentioned in the desc.] "A few." Hmm. * Maria describes Dimitri's appearance, leaving it just vague enough to account for slight alterations in appearance. ( Just the appearance? ) ( Accent too, definitely mannerisms, and she doesn't even mention his clothes. ) He looks thoughtful for a moment. "Hmm... Who's asking?" Maria smiles. "A generous young lady. And a prospective regular customer. This is a nice place." She looks around. I'd be happy to give a little something in return. "Yes. A nice place that treats its customers well." Maria smiles. "Of coruse." He shrugs. "I might have heard something. I'll try to remember for you." He polishes more glasses, not offering up any info. * Maria pulls out about $200. She slides it more or less in the bartender's direction. He casually slides it into his pocket. "Like I said, we treat our customers well." Of course. * Maria finishes her glass, and asks for another. He hands one over. "I'm starting to remember now. There's this group of people who've come in once or twice. One of them was a Russian gaijin, like you described. Except I don't think he was quite so tall." * Maria smirks. "Everyone's tall to me. But go on?" She has another sip. "Well, they like to talk a lot. Not that I've overheard them, mind you." Y'sure? "Well... I'm trying to recall, but it's just not coming to me." * Maria hands over another hundered. He slides it into his pocket. "Ah! I've just remembered." * Maria smiles. "Seems they're involved in some business. The kind they don't want people to know about. But one of them flaps his lips too much, so I know where they are." "They meet in the basement of a bar, at the opposite side of town. The bar's name is... Um, I can't seem to remember." * Maria smiurks and forks over another $100. He slides it into his pocket, and snaps his fingers. "'Amigo's'. That was the name. Although I can't say I know if they're quite as friendly as I am. That's a lowscale part of town, after all." * Maria smirks. "I'll just have to come here when I want to relax, then, I guess." "By all means, you're more than welcome." * Maria nods. "Of course. Don't suppose there's anything else you remember that'd be good to know?" "I might have a small idea that could be useful, but I can't remember what it was. Let me think about it." * Maria hands over another $100. He slides it into his pocket. "Rather generous of you. This isn't extremely helpful, but I've remembered it all the same. These people... Well, they're likely armed. You wouldn't want to go there without purpose, or there's no telling what they might do." * Maria nods. "Of course." Waste of a $100. ( Yup. That was only a $5 :P ) "Still..." * Maria finishes her glass. "Like I said, I'm generous. And don't worry, I'll still be around to be a regular customer." "If you were to do something stupid and actually go there, it'd be best to do it later at night. Around this time, or so." * Maria smirks. "It pleases me to hear that." "I hope you enjoyed the drinks." * Maria gets up. "Oh, I did. I need to be going, tho." "Of course." * Maria waves and trots out. She goes looking for Amigo's. [Time: 12:45. Maria finds Amigo's pretty easily. It's not exactly a common name for bars in this area.] ( Department stores, sure. But not bars. ) ( *snerk* ) * Maria looks it over from a safe distance. [The bar is much... less classy than the last one. The lights are on, but the sign says closed. Which is odd 'cause another sign says "Open until 2:00 a.m."] [There's apparently three people inside, drinking. Besides the bartender, that is.] ( Any of 'em look familiar? ) [One looks like he might be Dimitri, (same size, same clothes) but his back is mostly to you, so you can't be sure. He's standing hunched over the table next to this spikey-red-haired guy, who you also can't see. Then there's a woman across from them, who looks about your age. She's wearing a Chinese tunic and leather shorts. Her hair is brown and tied in a braid, falling to her waist.] * Maria frowns. [Whatever's happening, it doesn't look good. The big guy pounds on the table and shouts at the spikey-haired guy, who shouts back. The woman joins in with the shouting, and the bartender keeps quiet. You can hear the shouts, but can't make out what they are.] * Maria smiles. They're obviously not paying attention. * Maria takes the back way in, being careful and making sure nobody notices her. [It's locked!] (Oh, one other thing. Did I see Box or anything that might've been holding Box? ) [You don't see Box, but the spikey-haired guy was doing something that could've been typing on a computer. Or eating. You couldn't tell, 'cause his back was to you.] * Maria sneaks in, then. Unlocking doors as necessary, checking for other security measures as she goes. [Make a pickpocket roll at -1, then a silent movement roll, at -2] ( Pickpocket: ) 2d6-6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Maria (2d6-6) and gets 2. ( Oh yeah. ) ( Silent Movement: ) 2d6-8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Maria (2d6-8) and gets 1. ( Likewise yes. ^_^ ) [Maria picks the lock easily. She sneaks into a small room directly behind the bar. There's an archway (without a door) through which she can hear the others argue.] The first voice Maria hears is Russian. It could be Dimitri's, but they all sound the same, really. "... stupid! Vhy did I choose to rely on you?!" The second is male, Japanese. "Hey, man. It ain't easy to do this. You're lucky they didn't catch us!" Russian: "Bah. You learned nothink I can use!" Spikey: "Dude! Interpol's files? Damn hard to crack. Sorry if I didn't wanna get caught." * Maria begins to cautiously sneak towards them, trying to stay out of sight of both them and the bartender. The female's voice, speaks Japanese well, but with a slight accent: "It's not a total loss. We learned some useful facts." ( Stealth roll at -1. Any spec will do. ) 2d6-7 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Maria (2d6-7) and gets 0. [Maria keeps out of sight, but by the same token, she cannot see them, either.] ( Is the computer he's typing at Box? ) The Russian bellows. "Ve learned nothink!" [Nope!] Spikey: "Take it easy, man! Just because-!" Female: "We've got a lead, now! Maybe..." ( Where is spikey in relation to the door? ) ( They're at a table in the center of the room. ) ( You can't see them very well. You'd need to get closer. ) * Maria edges over to the door and peeks in, still being stealthy. ( Stealth, normal roll, any spec ) 2d6-6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Maria (2d6-6) and gets 0. [Maria can see that the Russian has too much hair and is a bit too handsome to be Dimitri.] [The girl's real cute, though! :P] ( Or, she would be if Maria was interested in girls. :P ) ( Well, yeah. ) * Maria sneaks up on them, then. ( Hoodear. You're sneaking over from their direction, you realize. :P ) ( Yes. But just because they see me doesn't mean they'll pay any attention. ) ( You don't know that :P ) ( After all, I got into the room with the rosetta stone, and I was in plane sight without being noticed. ;P ) ( Stealth roll, +4, silent movement. ) ( 'Cause they weren't looking at you :P ) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Maria (2d6-2) and gets 4. ( And you don't know that you weren't noticed ^^; ) ( Made it! ) [Maria sneaks up, without any of them noticing. They're too busy arguing.] * Maria ponders snatching the computer, thinks better of it, and just sneaks back out, taking care to remove any trace of her little visit. [And so she does. Mini end.]